“We can’t stay here.” Thomas’s voice seemed so suddenly loud in the silence of the apartment that the civilians actually jumped slightly in surprise. Nathan looked around at the military men guiltily. He had been doing his best to prove he could be as tough and stoic as they were.
“Agreed.” Rumbled the deep baritone of Holloway as he stood and stretched from his place by the window. His back cracked once and he smiled, sighing with evident relief.
“Why not? We have shelter, running water, food.” Steve piped in from the other side of the room where he was lying across four chairs, one arm thrown over his eyes as if to block out the weak morning light that was filtering into the room.
“Food enough for a week maybe and the fallout will only get worse if we wait. Once it’s into the ground water, we’re all fucked.” Thomas said patiently. The news man was starting to piss him off. So far the only thing he had done was complain about their position and demand to know how Thomas was going to return them to the others. “We need to get out of this city ASAP.”
“And leave your girlfriend here?” Steve asked as he sat up at last, not brave enough to meet Thomas’s gaze as he said it. “Leaving her to die doesn’t seem very “protect the weak and innocent” of you.” He had made quotation gestures as he spoke and a slight sneer was on his lip.
Thomas chose to ignore him. The man, like the rest of them was in a high stress environment and things always began to break down when you put someone into that situation, especially those who had never had their lives in any serious danger before. He knew the man had his own family out there somewhere and guessed that this outburst was probably a result of his own fears for them.
“Where would we go?” Nathan finally broke the silence. He could sense the tension between his boss and the military men and after what he heard about the soldiers reactions to the death of their comrade only a week ago he did not doubt for a second that if Steve pushed his luck, Thomas would kill him if aggravated.
“Out of the city but I’m not sure which direction.” Thomas said as he looked out into the street. They were virtually empty of walkers now but blanketed in a white and black layer of ash that showed trails through it where the odd walker still slouched slowly by, drawn by the moans of other further away. It looked like something like the trail snails might leave in the sand at the beach in a grotesque and horrible sort of way.
“South maybe?” Steve finally seemed to snap out of his funk. “Mexico might be populated but at least it doesn’t have nuclear fallout.”
The other nodded at that and Thomas was about to add something more when a startled yelp came from the next room where Clarkson was still lying in bed. His shoulder was still in pain and they had slung it across his chest but it would be several weeks before he was fully recovered.
Thomas at once leapt up and hurried into the next room to find the Britisher sitting bolt upright in bed. He was holding the shortwave radio that he had been carrying at arm’s length and was staring at it like it had bitten him.
“You forget what a radio looks like?” Holloway asked he appeared in the doorway behind Thomas. The SAS man ignored them and he suddenly jerked the radio back to his ear and listened with quiet intensity. They could hear something, it sounded like a voice cutting in and out with static but clear enough to make out segments of it nonetheless.
Thomas took a step closer and knelt by the bed. Clarkson turned to look at him and he could see tears in the corner of the man eyes but the huge smile he wore across his face belayed any bad news.
“Well?” Thomas prompted him.
“You’ll nay believe it lad, it’s me bloody twin sis.” He handed the radio to Thomas who pressed it to his own ear. The signal was faint beneath the static but he heard enough in seconds for his own eyes to grow wide with disbelief as he listened to the broadcast.
“This is Lieutenant Eva Clarkson of ‘er Her Majesties Ship Ambush broadcasting on all circuits. Any military unit that can ‘ear this message please respond, over.”
There was a pause and then the message would repeat louder or quieter, depending on what channel she was using. Thomas handed the radio back to Clarkson and felt a smile crack his features.
“Congratulations Spencer. Where the hell did she come from?”
“She was up’in San Fran. I thought fer sure tha nuke ‘ad wiped ‘er out…”
“So, is anyone going to respond to the girl?” Holloway broke in. “It seems to me she wants to make contact and it’s awfully rude of us to keep her waiting.”
Clarkson nodded as if in a dream and lifted the radio to his lips.
* * * * * *
“HMS AMBUSH, this is Master Corporal Spencer Clarkson o’ ‘er Majesties SAS. We read you, over.”
Lieutenant Eva Clarkson froze, the mic inches from her lips, and she stared blankly at the bulkhead in front of her. Total silence had fallen on the control room as the men around her turned to stare at her in surprise. She was still staring in stunned amazement at nothing when the voice broke into her thoughts again.
“HMS AMBUSH, this is Master Corporal Spencer Clarkson o’ ‘er Majesties SAS. We read you, you still there little sister? Over.”
“Oh my fooking god…” She muttered in continued amazement before snapping her fingers towards another shocked looking crewman. “Isolate channel.” She took a deep breath.
“Reading you loud an’ clear Master Corporal. Woot is yer status, over.”
“Got a busted fin, an’ only two o’ tha lads I started tha week with left, plus a pair o’ civis. We could use a lift if’n yer offering, over.”
“Can ye make tha harbour?” Excitement was rising in her as she glanced at real time down looking map information from a satellite far above them. It showed the chaos of the docks but a section near the ocean was clear of any obvious debris. “Pier 33, over.”
“Aye lass, we’ll see ye there! Will update on this channel. Out.”
She put down the mic, suppressed the urge to dance with glee and then turned back to the bridge team that was still staring at her in amazement. “Green 45 if you please Mister Mowat. We’re making for Los Angeles.”